I am writing this as, according to the UK weather forecast, we are about to be battered by a storm possibly as strong as the 1987 hurricane. How well I remember that. I awoke in the night with the three storey terraced house which was our home vibrating at the force of the wind. The next morning revealed the many millions of pounds of damage in Hastings alone. The roof of our Mission headquarters (one of the largest buildings in the town and prominent above the seafront) had lost a section of its roof. What remained had been lifted off, twisted round and set down at a crazy angle. I am hoping that this coming storm will not be as bad and that no lives will be lost on land or sea.
There are four familiar storm stories in the Bible. Jonah experienced a storm at sea when he sought to run away from God's purposes in his life. Once he realised the reason for the storm and took a sacrificial step of faith, the storm ceased, he was saved, men worshipped God, and he was soon back on the right course for his life. This passage of scripture was used by God to speak to me during an emotional and spiritual storm through 1987 and into 1988. It took a perfect storm to get me to take a leap of faith in which I discovered God's purposes for my life at that time.
The gospels record two storm events. In one the disciples are own their own in the middle of the night when Jesus comes to them, walking on the water. They discover that what they feared might overwhelm them was under his feet. On another occasion the disciples waken a sleeping Jesus during a storm on the lake. "Don't you care that we could be perishing?" they ask. Jesus rebuked the storm and rebuked them for their lack of trust. Another lesson learned.
The final storm at sea was experienced by Paul and others because someone chose to take his counsel from man rather than God. But thanks to divine wisdom, no one lost their life, though the ship and possessions were lost. Sometimes we pass through stormy periods in our lives as a result of our own failure to surrender to God's will. Sometimes, like Paul, we experience stormy situations because of the foolishness of others. But God promises to be with us through the storm, so we should never lose our trust and rest in him.
It is two weeks since my last Praise & Prayer blog. The first of these started with the Sunday morning meeting at Yelvertoft and a journey to Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire that evening. After a night in a country B and B I was off to London for a Sunrise Ministries trustees meeting. It was good to meet again with the team of trustees. Monica Cook and I are grateful for their support. An encouraging and useful meeting completed and I was off back to Hoddesdon to meet with colleagues in the Churches Group for Evangelisation at the High Leigh Conference Centre. I slipped away a little early from the CRG meeting on Tuesday morning to travel back to Herstmonceux in East Sussex and the church where I was minister for 15 years. The reason fore the trip was to share in a service of thanksgiving and celebration for the life of Desmond Luck, a wonderful Christian who I had come to know in one of my first evangelistic missions at the age of 17. It was a joy to see so many good friends.
On Wednesday morning I met with leaders from other rural missions and followed this with a ministry in song and word at the Senior Circle meeting in Yelvertoft. Thursday saw Doreen and me back in Yelvertoft for our regular Bible Discussion meeting. These prove so rewarding as the group enjoy drawing treasures out of studying Isaiah.On Friday I joined many thousands of others at an all night prayer meeting in London at which Hope14 was officially launched. I left before midnight to get a few hours sleep before returning to Market Harborough and then on to Yelvertoft again for a great Pudding Festival.
The Pudding Festival was a fund raiser for the local Air Ambulance Service but it brought a good number into the church that had never been to an event there before. It was a fantastic evening and photos of the puddings and their recipes will be appearing in a book. Once sold and the funds added to the donations on the night we might find our fund raising effort moving towards a thousand pounds! The spirit of generosity that evening was like being bathed in the gospel. Please pray for those who attended and sampled grace.
Sundays at Yelvertoft have been proving exciting as we are currently using them to explore various parts of the Bible as we seek to build up the big picture. So much blessing is coming as God speaks through his word and into the lives of the congregation. You might like to take a look at the booklet written to introduce people to the treasure that is the Bible. You can find it at www.yelvertoftchurch.org.uk. This Sunday evening I also took the service at the Church of the Good Shepherd in the village of Newton, near Rugby. I had not realised it was Bible Sunday when I planned to speak on Esther. The service caused a real buzz as people thrilled to the Bible story retold with contemporary illustrations. "What a wonderful evening we have had" one lady repeated several times.
Last Monday was the first day of re-engaging with the university research project studying rural evangelism. The plan is to set aside every Monday for this project as far as possible. On Tuesday it was back to work with the choir in HMP Gartree. On Wednesday I chaired the Churches Rural Group meeting at the Arthur Rank Centre in Warwickshire. On Thursday it was Bible Discussion again with more treasures from Isaiah, followed by a journey to Peterborough to take the handover from our Area Children and Families Worker as she starts maternity leave. Finally, Saturday afternoon was a planning meeting for "Get Messy for Christmas", which we hope will be the launch of a monthly "Messy" event in Yelvertoft. This has been the subject of prayer for over a year so it is great to see it taking shape.
It has been an exciting two weeks but mostly because of the evidence of God at work changing people's lives, including mine. This week, immediately after the regular time in Gartree Prison, Doreen and I are heading for North Wales for a week's break. There hasn't been much opportunity for recreation in this very busy year. we are hoping the storm will have blown itself out and that we will get a few clear days to enable a trip up Snowdon. Though we will not have any engagements until Tuesday 5th November please keep us in your prayers. We have truly felt the impact of answered prayers in so many ways during recent months.
In a recent Sunday morning at Yelvertoft our Bible exploration took us to Joshua and included the battle at Rephidim (Exodus 17). While Joshua's skills and strength were needed in the fight, the vital work was done on the mountain as hands were held up to the Lord. We know that "It is not by might, nor by power, but by God's Spirit" as Zechariah prophesied (Zech 4:6). Please pray as we recharge our batteries. Your prayers are being answered.
Thank you.
Barry
There are four familiar storm stories in the Bible. Jonah experienced a storm at sea when he sought to run away from God's purposes in his life. Once he realised the reason for the storm and took a sacrificial step of faith, the storm ceased, he was saved, men worshipped God, and he was soon back on the right course for his life. This passage of scripture was used by God to speak to me during an emotional and spiritual storm through 1987 and into 1988. It took a perfect storm to get me to take a leap of faith in which I discovered God's purposes for my life at that time.
The gospels record two storm events. In one the disciples are own their own in the middle of the night when Jesus comes to them, walking on the water. They discover that what they feared might overwhelm them was under his feet. On another occasion the disciples waken a sleeping Jesus during a storm on the lake. "Don't you care that we could be perishing?" they ask. Jesus rebuked the storm and rebuked them for their lack of trust. Another lesson learned.
The final storm at sea was experienced by Paul and others because someone chose to take his counsel from man rather than God. But thanks to divine wisdom, no one lost their life, though the ship and possessions were lost. Sometimes we pass through stormy periods in our lives as a result of our own failure to surrender to God's will. Sometimes, like Paul, we experience stormy situations because of the foolishness of others. But God promises to be with us through the storm, so we should never lose our trust and rest in him.
It is two weeks since my last Praise & Prayer blog. The first of these started with the Sunday morning meeting at Yelvertoft and a journey to Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire that evening. After a night in a country B and B I was off to London for a Sunrise Ministries trustees meeting. It was good to meet again with the team of trustees. Monica Cook and I are grateful for their support. An encouraging and useful meeting completed and I was off back to Hoddesdon to meet with colleagues in the Churches Group for Evangelisation at the High Leigh Conference Centre. I slipped away a little early from the CRG meeting on Tuesday morning to travel back to Herstmonceux in East Sussex and the church where I was minister for 15 years. The reason fore the trip was to share in a service of thanksgiving and celebration for the life of Desmond Luck, a wonderful Christian who I had come to know in one of my first evangelistic missions at the age of 17. It was a joy to see so many good friends.
On Wednesday morning I met with leaders from other rural missions and followed this with a ministry in song and word at the Senior Circle meeting in Yelvertoft. Thursday saw Doreen and me back in Yelvertoft for our regular Bible Discussion meeting. These prove so rewarding as the group enjoy drawing treasures out of studying Isaiah.On Friday I joined many thousands of others at an all night prayer meeting in London at which Hope14 was officially launched. I left before midnight to get a few hours sleep before returning to Market Harborough and then on to Yelvertoft again for a great Pudding Festival.
The Pudding Festival was a fund raiser for the local Air Ambulance Service but it brought a good number into the church that had never been to an event there before. It was a fantastic evening and photos of the puddings and their recipes will be appearing in a book. Once sold and the funds added to the donations on the night we might find our fund raising effort moving towards a thousand pounds! The spirit of generosity that evening was like being bathed in the gospel. Please pray for those who attended and sampled grace.
Sundays at Yelvertoft have been proving exciting as we are currently using them to explore various parts of the Bible as we seek to build up the big picture. So much blessing is coming as God speaks through his word and into the lives of the congregation. You might like to take a look at the booklet written to introduce people to the treasure that is the Bible. You can find it at www.yelvertoftchurch.org.uk. This Sunday evening I also took the service at the Church of the Good Shepherd in the village of Newton, near Rugby. I had not realised it was Bible Sunday when I planned to speak on Esther. The service caused a real buzz as people thrilled to the Bible story retold with contemporary illustrations. "What a wonderful evening we have had" one lady repeated several times.
Last Monday was the first day of re-engaging with the university research project studying rural evangelism. The plan is to set aside every Monday for this project as far as possible. On Tuesday it was back to work with the choir in HMP Gartree. On Wednesday I chaired the Churches Rural Group meeting at the Arthur Rank Centre in Warwickshire. On Thursday it was Bible Discussion again with more treasures from Isaiah, followed by a journey to Peterborough to take the handover from our Area Children and Families Worker as she starts maternity leave. Finally, Saturday afternoon was a planning meeting for "Get Messy for Christmas", which we hope will be the launch of a monthly "Messy" event in Yelvertoft. This has been the subject of prayer for over a year so it is great to see it taking shape.
It has been an exciting two weeks but mostly because of the evidence of God at work changing people's lives, including mine. This week, immediately after the regular time in Gartree Prison, Doreen and I are heading for North Wales for a week's break. There hasn't been much opportunity for recreation in this very busy year. we are hoping the storm will have blown itself out and that we will get a few clear days to enable a trip up Snowdon. Though we will not have any engagements until Tuesday 5th November please keep us in your prayers. We have truly felt the impact of answered prayers in so many ways during recent months.
In a recent Sunday morning at Yelvertoft our Bible exploration took us to Joshua and included the battle at Rephidim (Exodus 17). While Joshua's skills and strength were needed in the fight, the vital work was done on the mountain as hands were held up to the Lord. We know that "It is not by might, nor by power, but by God's Spirit" as Zechariah prophesied (Zech 4:6). Please pray as we recharge our batteries. Your prayers are being answered.
Thank you.
Barry
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